


Iwa's Gamble

by HopeYouAlwaysStay



Category: Naruto
Genre: Aged-Down Character(s), Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Uzumaki Naruto, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, F/M, M/M, Smart Uzumaki Naruto, Timeline What Timeline
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-03
Updated: 2017-04-10
Packaged: 2018-07-12 00:02:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7076140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopeYouAlwaysStay/pseuds/HopeYouAlwaysStay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At the age of eight, Naruto is beaten and run out of Konoha by a mob of angry villagers. As he's trying to find his way back, he meets an Iwa genin team who promises to take him somewhere the villagers can't hurt him anymore. Trusting the people who healed him and promised him a safe future, he joins Iwagakure and hopes his future will be brighter in the Village Hidden by Rocks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Arc One, Part One

**Author's Note:**

> This is crossposted from my FanFiction account Hope You Will Always Stay! Go check it out there if you want as well!

"Is this a good idea, Akio-sensei, un?"

Deidara weaved through the forest along with his teammates, looking at their Jonin sensei with concerned eyes. Kurotsuchi and Ittan silently agreed, not entirely sure what their sensei was thinking but not daring to speak up. No, they would leave that to their loud mouthed, explosive teammate who was sure to voice his opinion. In general, all Iwa Academy students are taught that you are to never enter Hi no Kuni territory, where the shinobi village of Konohagakure resided. They were bitter enemies, their teachers said, and a Konoha nin would not hesitate to kill you if you give them the chance. Needless to say, the three genin were quite weary about the whole situation.

Akio sighed, "It's the fastest route back to Iwa. This was your first C-rank mission, and Ittan nearly died. We need to return home, regroup, and give our report to Tsuchikage-sama."

"He's totally not just saying that cause his wife is about to give birth." Kurotsuchi snickered to Ittan who snorted behind his good hand, his broken arm still in its makeshift sling.

"What was that?" He cut a look behind him to his genin, "Did I hear you ask for more laps around the village?"

"N-no, sensei!" All three genin yelped, the threat effectively shutting their mouths. They had enough laps around Iwa for a lifetime, in their opinion, and any time Akio-sensei was to threaten more of them the three quickly reigned their attitudes in. Because, no matter how much the other Jonin Shinobi complained about their teams, Akio Fujita had by far gotten the worst of the bunch. After nearly having an aneurism when he saw the line up, the Tsuchikage had simply told him it was in preparation for fatherhood. After all, he had a daughter on the way on top of the twin sons he already had. He had to prepare for a bit of attitude here and there. However, Akio digressed. He could put up with 'a little but of attitude' but having Kurotsuchi, Deidara, and Ittan on the same team was suicide. He still cursed the damn midget every time he had to put up with his team's shit.

"That's what I thought."

His only form of peace came in the simple fact that the Chunin Exams were soon. He would literally kill to ensure that his whole team passed.

The four Iwa nin continued in relative silence, their anxiety growing as they grew closer to Konoha. They, of course, weren't goin to actually pass through the place, but to get to Tsuchi no Kuni and, ultimately, Iwagakure, they had to get pretty damn close to the place. As the leapt through the trees, Kurotsuchi glanced around at the land her grandfather hated with so much passion. She, like all Iwa nin, had inherited that hate from their ancestors. The Yellow Flash was the worst of them all, and by Kami-sama's blessing he was now dead. She had no idea exactly how many citizens of Iwa he had killed, but she knew the number was far too high to be forgivable. Quietly landing on a branch, she looked ahead and saw a clearing where there were no more trees for them to land of. Akio quickly mad a motion for them to drop to the ground and, as they were quietly making their way across the treeless expansion of land, they heard quick footsteps. The four ninja tensed, bracing themselves for an assault as they readied their weapons. As they did, a small figure came bursting out of the trees.

"Is that a kid?" Ittan whispered towards his sensei, "What's a kids doing this far away from the village?"

Kurotsuchi narrowed her eyes when she saw the kid freeze in fear at the sight of their weapons, and then she noticed the blood dripping down his face, "Akio-sensei! He's hurt!"

At his students quiet exclamation, the older man examined the kid from a distance noting that, yes, he was indeed hurt. A gash above his right eyebrow, bruising along his neck, and various cuts along his arms. Guilt gnawed at him, as he knew they couldn't just leave the kid there, being injured and all. He thought of his own sons, about as old as the boy in front of him, and his barrier between Shinobi and father broke down. So, against his better judgment, he carefully set his weapons down and approached the boy with his hands up as a sign of peace. The child slowly unclenched his eyes and opened them to reveal a vibrant blue shade, watching as the ninja grew closer to him.

"Listen, kid, I'm not gonna hurt you or anything. You just gotta trust me, okay?" Akio reached into his pouch, sadly noting the way the child flinched back at the action, and pulled out a roll of bandages, "I'm gonna heal you okay? My student is going to help. Is that okay? Just stay calm, okay?"

Ittan looked at his sensei, waiting to be motioned over, and when he was he quickly made his way to where Akio was kneeling beside the frightened child. The blonde child looked at them with terror in his eyes, a truly haunting look to see on someone so young, but recognition lit up his face when he saw Ittan's glowing palms.

"Y-you're going to heal me...? Why?" His voice was small, still fear lace but mostly hopeful at this point.

"Because you're injured." Ittan spoke calmly, his one good hand hovering above the boy's head, "It is my duty as an Iryō-nin to help those that are injured."

Blue eyes stared at him with such innocent wonder it made Akio wonder what the boys home life was like. As the wounds faded and the boy regained strength, Kurotsuchi and Deidara slowly approached the three who kneeled on the ground.

"You doing okay, Ittan?" The only female in the group spoke, black eyes questioning, "If you need to stop..."

"I'm almost done, anyways." The medical nin sighed, removing his hand from the now closed wound on the small child's forehead, "There. All fixed up."

Akio examined the wound and nodded his assent, looking at his student with the rare pride he held for all three when they weren't annoying the fuck out of him, "You're shaping up to be a fine healer. Now, if only you could heal yourself."

His student snorted, "I'm working on it."

"Sensei..." Deidara looked at Akio with complete sincerity, "He probably actually is, you know that, right?"

"Yes." Akio chuckled, "I'm well aware at Ittan's growing skill in the art of healing."

Turning his attention to the blonde boy on the ground who was looking at them with varying degrees of cation, Akio smiled as gently as possible, "My name is Akio Fujita. These are my students Kurotsuchi Kamizuru, Deidara of the Bakuton, and Ittan Yorokobi. What's your name?"

"Naruto." His voice was quiet, "Naruto Uzumaki."

Eyebrows shooting up, Akio looked at the boy in wonder upon hearing his name, "How did you get out of your village? How did you get injured?"

The boy swallowed, averting his gaze, "The villagers. They don't like me very much, and they chased me out of Konoha and there were a few ninja in the mob and I couldn't run fast enough."

Furrowing his brows in confusion, Akio tried to wrap his head around the situation. Konoha, known as the most peaceful and loving village of the great five, was purposefully abusing a child? Let alone an Uzumaki, possibly the last one at that. Wasn't that clan a big deal in Konoha? If he recalled correctly, their Shodai Hokage had married a woman from that clan. Sure, the kid lacked the red hair but still. You'd think he'd be protected from anything just by name alone. The Uzumaki clan was ancient and powerful, and since he could remember the Hidden Leaf village had treasured them to the point you'd think they were royalty, much like they did with the Senju and Uchiha clans. Well, not the Uchiha clan anymore it seemed, what with them being massacred.

Focusing his attention back on the child, Akio continued gently seeking information, "Does this happen often?"

Shrugging, the boy nodded a bit, "Yeah, kind of."

Kurotsuchi frowned in outrage, her eyes narrowing as her opinion of Konoha gradually sunk lower and lower as the boy continued to speak, "Sensei, we need to leave soon. We can just take him with us!"

"Yeah! It's not like it's that big of a deal, the clearly don't want him, un!" Deidara support his teammate, "We can just nab him and ask Tsuchikage-sama to accept him in the academy or whatever. He can go to an orphanage! He'd be safer there than here at least, un!

Ittan nodded, "Despite them usually being rash and uninformed, they are right on this occasion. We can't just leave him here to be further abused, because you know that's what Konoha will do. They pretend to be the good guys, when they're really just hypocrites. They'll hide it and this kid will never escape until someone eventually beats him to death."

A scared gasp reminded the Iwa nin that said child was sitting right there, looking at then with impossibly wide eyes, "Beat me...to death?"

Seeing the opportunity, Kurotsuchi quickly pounced on it, "Yes, Naruto-kun. That's what will happen if you stay here, and that's why you need to come with us! We'll protect you, keep you away from the Konoha devils!"

"But...Iruka-sensei isn't that bad...and Hokage-"

"They'll give in eventually." The kunoichi brushed aside Naruto's weak attempts to defend the village where he was born, "Did they stop this attack? Obviously not. So how will they stop the one after that, and then the next, and then will they be there to stop the one where you're finally killed? No. You're only way out is to come with us."

The young, whiskered boy swallowed, "B-but what village are you even from? Can I become a ninja there? Can I say goodbye to-"

"We're from Iwa, un." Deidara interrupted the kid once more, "Of course you can become a ninja! We only allow the best to become ninja, though, so if you wanna stay here it might be for the best if you don't think you can handle it."

A fire was lit in Naruto's eyes, and it was in that moment that Akio knew his students had somehow managed to convince a young boy to abandon his home village and leave for Iwa. Without his permission, mind you, but anything his team wanted his team would probably manage to get. He didn't know how Kurotsuchi would manage to convince her grandfather to take the kid in, though. Glancing at the kunoichi, he shook his head. If she wanted it enough she could probably raise the dead, so it was best not to doubt her skills in manipulation.

"Of course I can handle it!" Naruto snapped, "I was gonna be the next Hokage, ya know! I can handle whatever your academy throws at me!"

"Sure, if you say so, kid." Deidara snorted, "Next Hokage my ass..."

"Well, I think that's decided then, right, sensei?" Kurotsuchi smiled innocently at Akio, "We've saved Naruto-kun from the Konoha bastards, stopped a severe case of child abuse, and gained new potential for our village. Uzumaki potential. I think this mission was a great success."

"Yeah, yeah." The sensei pinched the bridge of his nose, "Let's just get the hell outta here. How old are you, kid? You know how to keep up with us speed wise?"

"I'm eight!" Naruto paused, "And...we haven't gone over it in the academy..."

"Great, okay." Akio waved a hand dismissively towards his long haired, blonde student, "Deidara can carry you."

"Why me, un?" Deidara snapped, "I don't wanna carry the kid!"

"Too bad." Akio glared, "Ittan's arm is broken, I don't feel like dealing with Kurotsuchi's complaining, and I'm the sensei. So it's left to you."

Huffing, the blonde reached down and grabbed the kid, muttering darkly as they began to run, "Stupid fucking sensei, un."

"What was that, Deidara?"

"Nothing, Akio-sensei!"

"Naruto, what'd he say?"

"Stupid fucking sensei, un."

"Thank you, Naruto. Deidara, that'll be three laps around Iwa as soon as we get back. No breaks."

"No breaks!"

"Wanna make it four?"

"...No sensei."


	2. Arc One, Part Two

"Tsuchikage-sama." Akio bowed towards the short man who ran Iwa, anxiety through the roof as he prepared his mission report while his students and Naruto waited out in the hallway.

"Akio." Ōnoki nodded towards the Jonin sensei, "How was Team Hyaku's first C-rank?"

"It went very well, Tsuchikage-sama. As ordered, we dispatched quickly to the The Land of Birds where we were met with the missing nin group that the daimyo Ōwashi had complained about. They called themselves the Watari Ninja, they were about thirty strong, and their leader was planning to take over by deceiving the daimyo and taking power. After disposing of the majority of the group, we took out the leader and stayed for another two days to ensure smooth goings in the land, and to hunt down the remaining the Watari Ninja. There entire group was exterminated. We received little to no damage to our team, although Ittan Yorokobi received a broken arm and all my students were on rather low chakra reserves. All together this took about two weeks, and as we were leaving we saw the trail leading to The Land of Earth was closed due to construction.

In order to return home as soon as possible, we followed one of the routes through The Land of Rain and on into The Land of Fire. As we entered The Land of Fire, we realized we would have to get rather close to Konohagakure to get onto the trail that would lead us on into The Land of Grass and then The Land of Earth. As we went deeper into the forests that surrounded Konoha, we came to a clearing. When we went to cross the clearing, we moved quickly thinking there might be traps. However, a small child came running through the trees, scared and severely injured. After I helped Ittan heal him, we discovered that the villagers of Konoha had done this to him and that it was a regular occurrence. We also discovered that he was an, ah, he was an Uzumaki."

Things were silent in the office as Ōnoki's face became stonier and stonier until he was outright glaring at Akio. The Jonin shrunk back from the Tsuchikage's gaze, having seen that look before and knowing nothing good could come of it. The expanse pf silence lasted a moment longer before the short leader spoke icily.

"You mean to tell me that you had your hands on an Uzumaki, one of the great extinct clans, and you did absolutely nothing?" The furious voice grew to a yell, "The village didn't even want him, he was wasted potential to bring a new clan to Iwa and you just left him-?"

"Tsuchikage-sama, we brought him with us!"

This caused the small, old man to pause, "You did what?"

"W-we, ah, we brought him with us."

"You did?" Ōnoki relaxed back in his chair and smiled happily, "Of course you did. I knew there was a reason I entrusted you with my granddaughter. Good work, Fujita, you're gonna get paid extra for this. Now, where is the kid?"

"Deidara!" Akio called behind him, "Kurotsuchi, Ittan! Come on in!"

The three genin opened the door silently, all shuffling into the room with expressionless faces. Kurotsuchi bowed to her grandfather quickly, while Ittan struggled into a shallow dip with his broken arm. Deidara, meanwhile, was trying to wrestle the eight year old off his back. Needless to say, Naruto had become quite attached during their little journey and was loathe to get off the Iwa nin's back.

"Just get off, un!" The long, blonde haired boy spoke as he snatched Naruto finally and shoved him off. The young boy landed with a crash on the ground and sat, pouting, while Kurotsuchi and Ittan let out snorts at their teammates actions towards their young charge.

"Ah, there he is." Akio smiled nervously at the Tsuchikage, "Naruto! Come here! This is the leader of Iwagakure!"

The small, blue eyed boy forgot his vendetta against Deidara as he looked at the short man behind the desk in awe, "So you're like the Hokage?"

"Much better, actually." Ōnoki sniffed, "Fujita! Just exactly where did you find this kid again? He looks like a mini Yellow Flash, may the man burn in hell."

"Outside the village of Konohagakure, Tsuchikage-sama." Akio studied the boy critically, "I suppose he doesn't look much like an Uzumaki after all, but that's what the child said his clan name was."

"Hmm, he sure has the chakra of an Uzumaki, though." The Sandaime Tsuchikage narrowed his eyes at Naruto, "Boy! Do you have any ninja training?"

Naruto's eyes widened, "I was in the academy in Konoha, Tsuchikage-sama."

The short man nodded in approval, the kid had more respect that most his age, "So that's a no. Would you like training?"

"Um, yes, Tsuchikage-sama."

"Good." Ōnoki nodded in approval before narrowing his eyes, "You'll be enrolled in Iwagakure's Ninja Academy. Get some proper training, you should shape up to be a fine shinobi. One thing kid, and I need you to listen very carefully. Are you listening?"

"Hai!"

"Do not let anyone outside this room know you are of the Uzumaki. Do you understand me?"

"Um..." Naruto furrowed his brows, "Why?"

"Because, boy, I said so!" The Tsuchikage snapped, "Do you want Konoha to catch wind that their missing Uzumaki is here and come snatch you away? Exactly. So from now on you'll Naruto. Is that clear?"

"Hai, Tsuchikage-sama!"

"Naruto..." Akio mused, "Fairly inconspicuous, no one would question anything."

"I'm glad you approve of my choice, Fujita." Ōnoki spoke dryly, "Now get the hell out of my office before I dock your pay! I have work to do! The boy starts the academy tomorrow. Kurotsuchi, I'm sure you can show him the way to the academy tomorrow?"

"Yes, Tsuchikage-ojisan." The short, dark haired girl nodded, "Where will Naruto be staying for now?"

The old man thought for a second before waving his hand, "Just have him get an apartment down town. Akio, you brought the kid here, I'm sure you and your team can watch over him?"

"Hai!"

"Good. Now leave."

Naruto shifted on his feet as he stood with the four Iwa nin outside the Tsuchikage Building, looking around at the foreign village with apprehension. Nobody was glaring at him, or spitting at him, and a few nice people even smiled in his direction when they saw him looking. Still, he wondered if Hokage-jiji had noticed his absence by now. Was the Old Man worried, or did it just go above his head? Biting his lips in a nervous habit, the young boy tried to convince himself he made the right decision. People wouldn't hate him here, and Akio and his team seemed really, super nice.

Glancing down, Akio saw the hesitance on Naruto's face as his genin left to go home, "Naruto-kun, would you like to stay at the Fujita compound for tonight? My sons are your age, you can stay in their room and then we can get an apartment for you tomorrow if you'd like."

His face brightened, "Yeah, please, Akio-san!"

Raising his eyebrows, Akio shook his head, "Just call me Akio, kid."

Naruto smiled even wider, "Hai!"

The Jonin knew the kid was scared, probably terrified, especially after the Tsuchikage's explosion, an he wanted to try and make him feel welcome. It was to ensure his loyalty towards Iwa, Akio told himself as he ruffled the kids blonde hair. It was only for that reason, because if he had friends here he'd be more likely to fight for the village. He didn't really like the kid, he insisted as Naruto jumped on his back and was given a piggy back ride all the way to the clan compound.

"Taki-chan! I'm home!"

Akio smiled as he walked into the main house of the Fujita clan compound, looking at his very pregnant wife who stood, smiling, with their two twin sons hanging off of her. Managing to wrestle them off, she walked over and hugged him, kissing him on the cheek before casting a confused glance at Naruto. The young boy stood beside Akio, having gotten off his back as the pair reached the compound, and was now giving Taki a wide eyed look. Wether it was because her sons were running around the house yelling and she managed to silence them with a glance and make them leave the room or because she was really pretty, Akio would never know.

"Who's this, Akio-kun?" The blonde woman raised an eyebrow, "Did we have another son I don't know about?"

"Ah, this is Naruto." He lowered his voice, "We found him outside of Konoha and he was pretty beat up. He was an orphan that got kicked out of a Konoha orphanage and he apparently got abused by the villagers. We brought him with us, and the Tsuchikage okayed his stay here."

The woman's hazel eyes were wide, "Oh, the poor child."

She walked over to the small boy and knelt in front of him, "Hi, Naruto-kun? How are you?"

The boys blue eyes were wide, "Are you what a kaa-san looks like?"

Akio and Taki both shared a look as their heart simultaneously broke for the blonde boy, "Did you never know your parents, Naruto-kun?"

He shook his head, "No."

The woman scrunched her nose as she wrapped the boy in a hug, "He's so adorable! How old is he?"

"Eight."

"What?" Taki pulled back, startled, "He's so small, I can almost feel his ribs! He needs some food. Naruto, do you want some food?"

"Yeah!"

"Yeah, let's go make some!"

Akio just watched as his wife drug the child off, shaking his head and feeling like he made an awful mistake.

Later, sat on the couch with his own sons Haru and Hotaka laying on him asleep, Akio let out an amused puff of air. Naruto was buried between his side and Taki's, who had her head laying on Akio's shoulder with an arm wrapped around her husband and the boy with blonde hair and blue eyes she had already vowed to keep. He knew it would be an awful idea to let his wife meet the little orphan; she would adopt every parentless child in the world if she could. It was one of the many reasons she made a wonderful mother, and why he was excited for his daughter to be birthed. She had a way with kids, unlike anyone he had ever seen. Hand her a crying baby and it would be calm in a matter of moments. Looking down at his wife with a fond smile, he shifted his arm so it wrapped around her and Naruto.

One hazel eye opened slightly and a sly smiled creeped on her face, "We're keeping him, you know."

"Only if the Tsuchikage says we can-" Akio attempted to interrupt her before she started. He wasn't sure what Ōnoki would say to their request of adopting Naruto into the Fujita clan. One one hand, they were very influential and were one of the first clans to join Iwa, right behind the Kamizuru clan which the Tsuchikage and Kurotsuchi themselves belonged to. However, if the day eventually comes along, Ōnoki may want Naruto to take up the mantle of the Uzumaki name. Of course, he could be Fujita-Uzumaki, which is probably what the Fujita elders would suggest if they knew only because it would be good for the clan, or Naruto could simply drop his adopted family name altogether.

Either way, Akio had no idea how his leader would react to his and his wife's request. The tiny man was rather unpredictable at the best of times and absolutely insufferable at the best, so it was a toss up. However, as he looked down at his wife who was giving him that look and the small boy who seemed like he fit right in the family, he knew he'd convince the Tsuchikage. If need be, he'd ask Kurotsuchi to throw in a good word for him. Ōnoki may be quite the bastard but, even if he denied it, he cared greatly for his granddaughter and often bolstered her skill as enough to take over for him one day.

"Oh, the Tsuchikage can say whatever he wants. We're keeping him." Came the sleepy reply from Taki as she drifted back into oblivion.

Akio couldn't hide his smile as he, too, allowed himself to fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Part 2 of Arc 1! I really like this idea so far!
> 
> Question of the Chapter: How do you think Iwa!Naruto who was raised in a sterner village by a loving family will differ from a Naruto who was raised in Konoha, which is known for it's ideals on love and peace, and was treated with hate and spite from the villagers and raised an orphan with few parental influences?


	3. Arc One, Part Three

"Sure, it's whatever the kid wants."

Akio blinked at his leader in shock. He'd certainly expected Ōnoki to put up more of a fight over the situation, but he wasn't going to start asking questions or arguing over it. He and Taki got what they wanted, and Naruto would get a loving family. So, he just nodded his head dumbly and spoke, "Hai, Tsuchikage-sama."

"Good. I'll have the paperwork sent over to the compound by tomorrow. On the kid's official name, don't mention anything about being an Uzumaki. Yet, that is. Just put down Fujita and be done with it."

"Hai, Tsuchikage-sama."

"Oh, and Akio?" Ōnoki lost the careless glint in his eyes and his expression became even more serious, "You're a trusted shinobi. You've never given me any reason to doubt you. So, I have a question for you."

Eyes widening, Akio gave a sharp nod, "Hai. You can ask me anything, Tsuchikage-sama."

"Who does the boy remind you of? I'm not talking way back generations, Fujita...I'm talking ninja from you age group."

"From Iwa?"

"No necessarily."

The man furrowed his brows, looking at his leader in confusion. He must be speaking about the boys parents, although it was rather obvious who his mother was. Kushina Uzumaki was the last of her clan, having escaped the destruction of her village by leaving Konoha year's earlier to serve under Mito Uzumaki-Senju. Their cover story was that she had gone to learn Fūinjutsu from Mito, as the woman was a great Seal Master that surpassed even the likes of Jiraiya the Sannin. However, it was known soon due to Iwa's spies that she had gone to become the replacement jinchūriki as Mito had gotten too old to hold the Kyūbi. The Uzumaki woman apparently also had a fling with Konoha's Yondaime Hokage, who was also the singly most hated person in all of Iwa. He had even earned his own moniker...Akio paused, breath catching in his throat and his mind working at top speed.

"Konoha no Kiiroi Senkō...you think he's the son of the Yellow Flash?" Akio swallowed, "There are other blond men in Konoha, Tsuchikage-sama, I don't believe it to be wise to jump to assumptions. I know you mentioned it earlier, but surely there is another explanation."

He was talking out of his ass, and both men knew it. Sure, there were a lot of blond men in Konoha, that was a given. There were a lot of blond men everywhere. But there was only one blond man who was rumored to have had a thing with a certain Uzumaki Kushina, who was undoubtably the mother of Naruto as she was the only Uzumaki known to be alive, let alone in Konoha where the kid was born.

"I believe that boy is the son of Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Flash, our greatest enemy, and the Yondaime Hokage." The Tsuchikage stilled in his chair, looking at Akio with dark eyes, "You know what this means, don't you?"

The Jonin sighed, "We have to be even more careful. If the Hokage finds out we have the kid, it could lead to a war."

"Yes, and if we manage to train the kid and keep him on our side, then it spells Konohagakure's doom." Ōnoki's smile was sinister, "Wouldn't be ironic, the Leaf getting destroyed by the son of their greatest hero?"

"That's another thing I don't understand!" Akio huffed, "If Naruto is the son of the Yondaime Hokage, why wasn't he treated like royalty?"

The Tsuchikage snorted, "It was probably kept from them. You know the people of Konoha aren't that bright to begin with, they can't put together two and two."

"Even still, why treat the child with such abuse and hatred? Especially if he was the known son of the Uzumaki woman, and an orphan to boot." The Fujita clan head paused, "Do you presume it was because of his mother containing and releasing the Kyūbi? Maybe they related Naruto to the beast?"

"The Kyūbi?" A jolt seized the leader's body, "I knew that damned bastard couldn't kill it!"

Akio watched as the man practically stomped out of his office to yell, "Someone get me Rōshi immediately!"

"The container of the Yonbi?" The brunette man froze, looking at the Tsuchikage with shock, "The Flash didn't kill the beast, did he?"

"No, he damned well didn't!" Ōnoki's face was practically alight with glee, "I may not be called the Professor like their Sandaime Hokage, but I'm far from stupid! Treated with hate despite being from a beloved extinct clan? The identity of his parents kept secret? Do they think we're idiots?"

"No, Tsuchikage-sama, they just assume all villages have the average intelligence level Konoha does." Akio spoke dryly, "Thank Kami-sama that isn't true, or I'd fear for the world."

"If they threw away what I think they did, and we manage to train the boy right..." The Tsuchikage was muttering as he rifled through papers on his desk, "This child will be the death of Konoha, do you understand that, Fujita? You're raising the death of your greatest enemy!"

The man sighed, "I'm sure my wife will be thrilled. My wife can know, right?"

Ōnoki nodded absentmindedly as he pulled out some scrolls from his desk, "Yes, Fujita, Taki can know about all this. Only her, however, this is not to be told to any other soul. We will speak to the boy if he is the container of the nine-tails, but even he may not know of his father yet."

Akio was going to raise an eyebrow at the use of his love's first name, as the Tsuchikage never used first names unless he was speaking to Kurotsuchi or his own son-in-law Kitsuchi. Then he remembered that Taki was the one who helped raise Kurotsuchi after the death of the child's mother, who was Ōnoki's daughter, on a mission when she was barely a year old. That had apparently granted her luxuries that the normal Iwa Shinobi didn't have, and was actually probably one of the reasons his family got to keep Naruto.

"Fujita!" He jumped, snapping to attention and looking at his leader, "Go get the kid!"

"Hai!"

It had taken ever reassurance Akio knew to get his wife to hand over Naruto, and even then the pregnant woman had collapsed on him and began sobbing in his arms. Needless to say he panicked, but she just smiled through her crying and then it was her turn to assure him that it was just pregnancy hormones. So, feeling extremely guilty about leaving his wife when she had just got done crying, he took Naruto and shunshined to the Tsuchikage's office, where he was met with an even bigger problem. An annoyed Ōnoki.

"What took you so damned long?" He snapped, ignoring Rōshi who stood behind him studying Naruto with great interest, "You left to get the kid twenty minutes ago!"

"Ah, well, Taki started crying and I had to make sure she was okay!" Akio set Naruto on the ground, and smiled a little as the boy immediately clung to the loose fabric of Akio's pants, "What's wrong, little one? You know Tsuchikage-sama, and Rōshi, the man behind him, isn't going to hurt you."

"He's scary." Naruto shrunk back further, looking at the red haired man behind Ōnoki with weary eyes, "He feels bad."

"The boy is a sensor. A lot of the Uzumaki clan are." Rōshi spoke for the first time, "It's the Yonbi's chakra he's sensing."

"Of course the boy's a sensor." The Tsuchikage laughed, "This day just gets better and better!"

"Tou-san, what's he talking about?" Naruto muttered as he tried to glue himself to Akio, despite the man trying to push him forwards towards the Tsuchikage.

Raising an eyebrow at the title he'd been bestowed within the past day, probably at Taki's behest, Akio crouched down to look Naruto in the eyes, "Come on, Naruto-kun. I won't let anything bad happen to you."

The little boy still seemed apprehensive as he approached two of the most powerful Shinobi in Iwa. He stopped just before Ōnoki, allowing the Tsuchikage to assess him before he nodded towards Rōshi and the jinchūriki came froward towards Naruto, who was glaring in suspicion. The tall man, taller than even Akio and obviously taller than the Tsuchikage, kneeled before Naruto to further examine him. He still towered over the child though, which only added to the blonde boy's anxiety about the situation. He knew being backed into a corner meant pain in Konoha, and he was sure it was the same here in Iwa. However, the red haired man sensed his anxiety, as all other ninja in the room did, and smiled to attempt to calm the kid down.

"We're checking to see if you bear the same burden you mother did." Rōshi tried to explain, "Did you know anything of your mother?"

Naruto shook his head, "All I was ever told is that she was a great kunoichi and an Uzumaki. That's where I got my name."

"Your mother was Kushina Uzumaki." Rōshi glanced behind him toward the Tsuchikage, as if getting permission, before he turned back to the wide eyed child who was eager for more information about his mother, "She was of the Uzumaki clan which meant she had a very strong life force and a large chakra supply, traits of which she handed down to you. For those reasons, those of the Uzumaki clan make very good jinchūriki."

"Jerky-wha?" Naruto blinked in astonishment at the man, "How do you know all this about my mother?"

"She was a very famous kunoichi." Ōnoki cut in then, "She was known as the Akai Chishio no Habanero, aptly named for her hair and temper, and she was quite the nuisance. Iwa gained a lot of intelligence on her during the Third Shinobi World War."

Blinking, Naruto looked at Akio, "Why did you bring me here if you don't like my parents?"

You don't know the half of it, kid, was the resounding thought shared by the three Iwa nin in the room before Akio smile and took control of the conversation, "Because you weren't safe there. No matter who your parents are, you should not be damned for their atrocities."

"Killing a thousand Shinobi in one go is more than an atrocity..." Ōnoki muttered to the jinchūriki beside him before raising his voice so Naruto could hear, "Exactly. I'm sure you'll be a fine Iwa ninja when you get older, no matter who you parents were. But the fact remains that, seeing as your mother was a jinchūriki, you might be too."

"What do you mean?" Naruto's eyes widened as he began to panic, "Is it a disease?"

"No, it's not a disease." Rōshi laughed, "I'd more compare it to a curse. Do you know what the biju, like the Kyūbi, are?"

Naruto nodded, "We went over it in the academy last year."

"Good. Well, a jinchūriki is when one of those biju are sealed inside of a human. It's the power of human sacrifice, the container keeps the biju from unleashing destructive power on the world while also gaining some level of power from the tailed beast. Do you understand?"

"I think so. You said my mom was one?" Naruto looked back and forth between the three men, "And that I might be too?"

"Yes. When the Kyūbi escaped your mother it killed her. We are going to assume this was sometime after your birth, which happened around the time the nine-tails attacked Konoha. Some say the Yondaime Hokage killed the beast, but biju are unkillable. So he would have had to seal it into a child, and you would've been a prime candidate as an orphan and an Uzumaki." Rōshi paused, "We're not sure, but there is a way to check. I'm assuming the Yondaime would have placed the seal on your stomach, as that is the most popular spot and where my own seal is. I need you to lift your shirt and channel chakra into your stomach."

"You're a jerky too?" Naruto tilted his head as he raised his shirt, "And how do I channel my chakra?"

"Jinchūriki." Rōshi corrected, "And yes, I am. I hold the four tailed beast, the Yonbi. To channel your chakra, just focus on your stomach."

Naruto closed his eyes and concentrated and then, all of a sudden, the seal faded into existence. Complex and glowing, it appeared for a moment before Naruto lpost concentration and dropped his shirt, bouncing on the heels of his feet.

"Did I do it? Was it there?" Blue eyes looked around, "Huh?"

"Yes, Naruto-kun." Akio sighed, "It was there."

Frowning, Naruto looked at his father figure, "Is that a bad thing?"

"No, it just means you'll have a difficult time ahead of you." Akio smiled slightly, "Think you can deal with it?"

"Who do you think I am, tou-san? Of course I can, I'm gonna be the strongest ninja ever! I have to!"

The Tsuchikage nodded, "It was clearly Uzumaki Fūinjutsu. It'd be wise to train the boy in that as well, perhaps later on. If only so he can maintain the seal himself, but also because it'd be a disgrace for any Uzumaki to not learn the sealing techniques of their clan."

"Um, Tsuchikage-sama?" Naruto hesitated a bit, "Did you know anything about my father? Why he wasn't their after my mother died?"

"We're going to assume he was killed during the attack of the nine tails, Naruto-kun." Akio grimaced inside, he hated lying but technically there was truth to the statement. Looking towards the Tsuchikage, he knew he had said the right thing from the approving gleam in the mans eyes.

"So, I'm carrying the thing that killed my parents?" Naruto scrunched his eyebrows up, "How do I control it? What if it takes control of me?"

"That's why you'll be training with Rōshi." The Tsuchikage nodded towards the red haired man who now stood beside him, "You'll be able to fully master your biju one day. Now, get out of here and go home! You start at the academy tomorrow, and your lessons with Rōshi will begin right after."

"Hai!"

With that, Akio picked up Naruto and shunshined back to the Fujita compound. The kid had a rough life in front of him, and he was going to try and make it as easy as possible. First, though, he had to try and explain all this to Taki.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Question of the Chapter: What will Naruto's training involve? How will he discover he's Minato's son, or will he have to be told? What do you guys want to see (personally I'd like some more Deidara cause he's fun as hell to write)?


	4. Arc One, Part Four

Naruto groaned, laying flat on his in the backyard of the clan compound. Hotaka and Haru, his brothers, were sparring some ways away from him and, as much as Naruto would've loved to join in the fray, all he could do was ignore them and try to ease the pain of his muscles. He'd been in Iwa for all of five months, and the academy was a bit more difficult than Konoha's, but his adoptive parents helped him a lot with anything he didn't understand. It was so different to have adults he could trust, but in such a short time they had helped him more than anyone else. Despite the academy being bearable, it was Rōshi-sensei that really worked him over. Drills everyday, chakra control, running with weights, trying to contact the nine-tails...it was two hours in hell everyday after the academy.

"Naru-chan, otouto, come on!" Haru laughed, "You gotta show us what Rōshi-san taught you today! Come on, before kaa-san gets home!"

"Ya know, I think he's dead. Do you think he's dead?" Hotaka spoke with amusement in his voice, "Haru, we should check if he's dead!"

"No, no!" Naruto struggle and pulled himself of the ground, "Don't check, no need to check, I'm fine!"

'Checking if he was dead' was code for 'let's go drag him around the backyard to wake him up some' and Naruto had already had enough of that for six lifetimes. Getting on his feet, the eight year old was nearly tackled down by one of his brothers, both of whom were laughing their asses of at Naruto's pain. Hotaka pulled him off the ground once more, so it must've been Haru that had caused them to both go down. The twins were identical, so the blonde had some trouble telling them apart. They both had drown hair and hazel eyes, but Hotaka had a small scar from a kunai in his left eyebrow that stopped any hair from growing there. It wasn't that noticeable, just looked like he'd shaved a bit of his eyebrow or the hair was very thin in that one spot, but it was enough to help tell them apart.

"Let's spar some! You can show us what you've learned in those fancy private lessons!" Haru snorted, "I don't see why you get them! We're older!"

"I'm the oldest!" Hotaka cut in with a smirk, "So I should get the fancy private lessons!"

"It's nothing much. Just chakra control and some strength training. You guys've had kaa-san and tou-san to help you your whole lives!" Naruto tried to avoid the real reason he had the private lessons, "I need a little extra help!"

"You know what this means, right Haru?" Hotaka looked at his twin, "It's our duty to help our baby brother catch up!"

Haru nodded vigorously, "Don't worry, otouto! We'll make sure you aren't dead last!"

"Quit calling me that! You're only, like, three months older than me!" Naruto scowled, "And I'm not gonna be dead last either way!"

"Yeah true." Both boys nodded as Haru spoke, "That'll be Isao. He's struggling more than a little."

"So go help him, then!" The blonde snapped, "I've already got enough to worry about!"

"Nay, nay! Otouto, it's our duty as your older brothers to help you!"

"You know, I feel really bad for Emiko when she gets older."

The newest edition to the Fujita clan had arrived no more than four months ago, and that had been one of the most eventful days of Naruto's life. He came home with Haru and Hotaka, as his brothers always waited at the Dango Shop until he was done with Rōshi's lessons so they could walk home with him, only to find their father passed out on the ground while their mom tried desperately to wake him up while holding her stomach. Akio had woken up after a sharp kick from Haru, which got him grounded for two days, and then their parents had run out of the compound without them. Of course, they knew their mom was about to give birth so they left after them to try and catch up.

Needless to say what they learned was Hotaka was awful at giving directions, not all old ladies are nice, jumping fences is never a good idea, and Hotaka is also awful at following directions. When their parents found them later that night wondering the streets, the two adults being more than a little worried, they got a stern lecture from Akio and a tearful hug from Taki. They also got grounded for a month, which was hell, but when Naruto and his brothers returned home they saw Emiko Fujita for the first time. Taki had picked the baby girl up and let each of the boys hold her, and for the first time Naruto really felt like he belonged with his family.

"Why?" Haru scoffed, "She's got the three most talented, handsome brothers any young kunoichi could ask for! She's been blessed by Kami-sama himself!"

"Exactly! So, otouto, tell us what you've learned so we know where to start!"

"Um, I can walk on water and run with fifty pound weights on?" He didn't want to mention anything about the fox demon as he'd been strictly told that it was a need to know secret and no one but his parents and who the Tsuchikage choose needed to know, "I can also do the Bunshin no Jutsu, the Henge no Jutsu, and the Kawarimi no Jutsu."

"Clones, transformations, and substitutions? That's all? And I mean, I guess most academy students can't walk on water, and the fifty pound weights thing is decent for five months, but we could do most of that stuff by five!" Hotaka shook his head, "You're in dire need of our help."

"Hey, I couldn't do any of that five months ago!" Naruto protested, "Kaa-san said I'm making a lot of progress!"

"A lot, but not a much as you could be!" Haru hummed for a moment, "What's your affinity?"

"My wha-?"

"Your nature affinity!" Hotaka's jaw dropped, "Don't tell me Rōshi of all people hasn't tested your chakra yet?"

"Um, no." Naruto raised an eyebrow, "What...exactly is a nature affinity?"

"It's what element your chakra is! You know, to perform a jutsu! You can learn jutsu outside of your affinity, but you won't catch on to them as easy and they'll not be as strong!" Haru explained, "I have a dual affinity for earth and fire, Hotaka has the same!"

The other twin nodded, "Yeah, we've gotta get Kaa-sans special paper she has! The ones she used on us! They tell you what your affinity is!"

"Didn't she put those in her office?" Haru glanced around dropping his voice to a whisper, "Guys, we aren't supposed to go into her office!"

"Haru, listen!" Hotaka exclaimed suddenly, grabbing his twins shoulders, "If we don't do this then Naruto is either gonna flunk out of the academy, or-or when he becomes a genin he's not gonna be prepared and he'll die on his first C-rank!"

"Really?" Haru swallowed hard, "I don't wanna get in trouble, but I don't want otouto to die..."

"Well he will if we don't do this!" Hotaka grabbed both of his brothers and began to pull them back into their home, "We just gotta snag a piece of paper and then go! Easy peasy!"

Naruto highly doubted he would die or flunk out of the academy, but he was eight and all he wanted to do was cool jutsus. So, he allowed himself to be dragged into their mothers office and snag a piece of paper before fleeing back outside. The paper didn't look like much, just a smallish square of thin parchment. However, as the thee brothers sat in a small circle in their backyard, the twins explained it's significance.

"If it's fire the paper will ignite and turn to ash, earth will make the paper turn to dirt and crumble away, wind makes the paper split in two, and lightning just makes the paper crinkle up and get all wrinkly. Water makes the paper, ah, what does water make the paper do again?" Haru turned to his brother, "I can never remember water..."

"It sort of makes the paper get all damp and mushy." Hotaka shrugged, "There aren't a lot of wind or water affinities in Iwa, I don't think. Could be wrong, though. Earth is the most popular here in Iwa!"

"Yeah, here, just push your chakra into the paper through your fingertips!" Haru handed the paper to Naruto, "It's really simple. All genin can do it."

Naruto didn't care to point our that they were all still academy students and just accepted the paper. He pushed some chakra into the paper, and watched with wide eyes as it split into a bunch of little pieces and quickly fell to the ground as it turned into dirt. Haru whistled as Hotaka gave an approving nod.

"A really strong affinity for wind and earth. Cool combination, normally people with an earth affinity are screwed against lightning users, but you're strong with wind so that'll cover you there!"

"How do you guys even know so much?" Naruto muttered, happy that shared one of his affinities with his brothers, "You're my age!"

"Yeah, but kaa-san wanted to teach in the academy or be a sensei before she got pregnant again." Haru spoke as the three stood up, "She's a really good teacher, and she taught us with tou-san. They're super strong, you know? Some of the best ninja in this village! So that means we have to be too! Now, what earth technique could we teach you?"

"Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu (Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique) is only D-rank, and it's the first one we learned!" Hotaka suggested, followed by a nod from his twin.

"Yeah! Okay, so this is a short range technique that hides the user underground and drags the object of the attack under the earth until only their head and neck are above ground. It leaves them helpless, basically. Then you can start another attack!"

As they showed him the hand seals and how to properly use the technique, using Haru as both an example and a test dummy, the three brothers quickly began to work.

Taki came home late that day, though Akio usually beat her home as she worked a lot of over time but he was out with his team on their first B-rank mission. She went through her usual routine; check on Emiko, pick up around the house, find the boys and fix them dinner...speaking of, where were her sons? Eyebrows scrunched together in worry, she checked in their rooms and found them empty, she knew they weren't in the kitchen, no one was in the bathroom, they weren't in Emiko's nursery. They never stayed out this late training, it was nearly nine o'clock. Even Emiko's nanny, a branch member of the Fujita clan, was surprised at how long she'd been gone. Going out into the backyard to check regardless, her eyes widened when she took in the state of the landscape.

There were holes everywhere. Rocks were thrown up and in small piles, there were kunai marks cut into the wall of the house, and finally she saw three eight year olds laying in a dog pile. Rushing over, she saw that they'd managed to exhaust themselves so much that they'd just collapsed. Shaking her head, she smiled and let them alone, they'd come in for food when their hunger woke them. Besides, she wanted to get a picture of all of them together. She had made a scrapbook for Naruto just like her other three children and, though she didn't have any of his baby pictures, it was already filled from memories of the past five months.

Later that day, when their nanny was home and watching over Emiko for a bit so she could get some work done, Taki sat in her office writing out some of her ideas for improvements upon the academy. She was thinking to suggest that the amount of E-rank jutsu needed to pass was upped from three to four. Just to give the kids an edge on some other village's genin. Maybe they could be introduced to more weapons, as well. It couldn't hurt, after all. As she wrote, she noticed one of he cabinets open. She always told the kids not to come in her office, she had a lot of poison powders and roots that she didn't want them getting their hands on despite them being locked up, but when she saw the box of chakra paper opened she knew what her twins had done for their adoptive brother.

She didn't have the will power to be angry.

The next few days continued on like this, Naruto coming home after the academy and his lessons and practicing with his brothers until it was either time for dinner or they all passed out from exhaustion. Taki had expressed some degree of worry over them training too hard, but Akio waved it off and reminded her that Naruto would need all the skills he could get in the near future. This was the routine for the week, up until Friday. The academy students rushed out of the school, happy for their two day resting period, and Naruto headed to his lesson with excitement. Today was the day tou-san and his team got home!

After his lesson with Rōshi-sensei ended, he rushed around the village much to the amusement of the citizens of Iwa. It was always entertaining when the Fujita boys were let loose on the population. It was a known fact that the twins could stir up quite a lot of trouble all by themselves, and ever since the third blonde one had been adopted things had just gotten progressively crazier. Now it wasn't only mischief, but pranks as well. Now, once in a blue moon, the citizens of Iwa would wake up and find underwear and bras strung up on the power lines or they'd occasionally get a graffitied wall. Nothing too major, it really only ever served to give the genin teams more D-rank missions to do before they were allowed C-ranks. They knew the blonde boy was behind it, though, and while some of the older villagers got snotty about it the majority just found the pranks hilarious or the work of bored children.

However, as Naruto ran through the streets today, his goal was not to cause any mischief though. No, today he had a goal. He didn't even stop in the middle of the street to marvel that he wasn't getting any glares and that he even got some smiles from people that noticed him. Today Naruto was trying to get to the village gate as quickly as possible to meet his dad and his dad's genin team when they got home. he had already told Haru and Hotaka to go on home without him, he'd probably be waiting awhile, and the two agreed rather quickly. They were over the days of trying to meet their parents at the gates when they got home from missions. Naruto, however, was just getting used to the whole family thing and he was determine to relish in the fact that he had parents to wait up for.

"Here already, Naruto-kun?" Shoji Inoue, one of the three gate guards, spoke as Naruto approached the gate.

"Yeah, I ran from my lessons to here!" Naruto beamed at the three Iwa nin as he hopped up on the gate guards table to sit and wait in the shade. The three had grown used to him waiting for his father to get back from missions over the past five months. Shoji, a man with long brown haired tied back into a braid and green eyes, had joked that they should just make Naruto an unofficial member of the guard. The other two nin guarding the gate were Yumi Sato and Shin Aokawa, both of whom Naruto had become friends with as well. Yumi was a woman with light blonde, almost white, hair and reddish brown eyes, while Shin had dirty blonde hair and brown eyes.

Apparently, the three of them had been on the same team as genin, under a man by the name of Han. Apparently their sensei was a nice guy, if not a bit serious, and was currently out of the village training. That confused Naruto to no end, why couldn't he just train in the village? The three chunin had shrugged, stating that it's just the way the man was. Apparently they had been chunin for awhile now, and were planning on becoming jonin in the upcoming exams.

"You know what that means, Naruto-kun?" Yumi had once asked him, smiling as she leaned back in her chair, "No more gate duty! They'll have to find another team to take over!"

Naruto had pouted, stating that no one could replace them which earned him laughs from the older teens and hair ruffle from Yumi. She was his favorite, she was really pretty and nice and she kind of reminded him of Ayame in a way. The daughter of the Ramen cook at Ichiraku's had been one of the only civilians, along with her father Teuchi, to treat him like an actual human being. He and Iruka-sensei had always gone their to eat, and Ayame was always nice and vibrant, much like Yumi. The though of the few people who had once made Konoha his home for eight years of his life made him sad, but whenever those thoughts prevailed he always reminded himself of how much he had gained.

Now, sitting with the three chunin as Shoji and Yumi played a game of Mahjong, Naruto never felt more at home amongst the mountains and the cool air that was characteristic to the place, much unlike Konoha where even in the winter temperatures never dropped to anything below comfort level. Here in Iwa, though, Naruto had leaned the ourpose of a heavy jacket and why it was necessary. He had no desire to get frostbite, he had heard a horror story from Haru about one kid who didn't wear a jacket a got frost bite on his nose. Apparently the kids nose fell off and he had to drop out of the academy and Naruto had no desire to lose his nose or his ninja career, so he wore an extra padded jacket when it was too cold in the morning.

"So, Akio-san getting back today?" Shin glanced away from his teammates play the game to look at Naruto, "He's been gone awhile."

"Yeah, it was his teams first B-rank!" Naruto's eyes brightened, "Tou-san had to take them all the way to the Land of Mountains!"

"That means they had to take a boat, yeah?" Shin raised an eyebrow, "I wonder what the mission was about, and why they let a genin team go on a B-rank?"

"This isn't just a genin team we're talking about." Yumi shook her head, "Deidara, Kurotsuchi, and Ittan are probably more talented that most of the jonin from this village. People are already planning for Kurotsuchi to take over for the Sandaime, you know that? I'm honestly not surprised they got a B-rank."

Naruto nodded, "Especially with tou-san leading them!"

Shoji spoke, "You got a lotta faith in you dad, huh?"

"Of course I do!" Naruto scoffed, "Haru told me that tou-san and kaa-san are super strong and some of the best ninja in all of Iwa!"

"It's always Haru said this, Hotaka said that with you, huh?" Yumi laughed, "Gotta admit though, you dad's pretty good at-HEY! Shoji, put that the fuck back, I saw you move it and it is not your turn!"

"I didn't move anything!"

Shin rolled his eyes, "So, what've you learned so far?"

"Oh! I've got a dual earth and wind affinity!" Naruto looked up at the ninja with wide eyes, "That's cool, right?"

"Yeah, really cool." Shin nodded, raising his hand, "High five, little man!"

"I'm not little." Naruto said as he smacked his hand against the chunin's, "When do you think my dad will be home?"

"Should be sometime soon."

Sighing, Naruto contented himself to sitting back and watching Shoji and Yumi bicker over their game. He sat there for two hours, though it felt like two years, until finally he saw four silhouettes walking towards the gates. Naruto jumped off the gates and, before he could be stopped, dashed outside the village to meet them on their way. As he got closer, he could see Deidara's blonde hair and Kurotsuchi's red uniform and Ittan's blue medical satchel. He could see his dad, taller than his students, walking beside the three.

"Tou-san!" Naruto cried out when he was in hearing distance, "Tou-san, you're home!"

Akio crouched down just as Naruto tackled him into a hug, the stood with Naruto still in his arms so that he was carrying the child, "Naruto-kun! What have your mom and I told you about running out of the village like that?"

"Sorry, tou-san." Naruto looked down, "I was just really happy you were back. I missed you. You were gone for a whole four weeks, you know!"

"Naruto-kun, you have to be careful." The jonin sighed, "But I missed you too, where are your brothers?"

"At home. They showed me my nature affinity on Monday! It's wind and earth, and then they showed me an earth style move that we've been practicing a lot! Kaa-san got man cause we're leaving holes in the back yard everyday, but we always fill them in!"

Smiling, Akio used the hand he wasn't holding Naruto with to ruffle his hair as they approached the gate, "That's good, Naruto-kun!"

"So, you're finally back, eh?" Shoji took Akio's identification papers as the man set his son down, "Why does the pebble not budge when faced down by a mountain?"

It was a code, Naruto knew. All the times he'd heard the phrase repeated and answered the exact same way, he'd finally asked Yumi and she'd explained it was a way to know the person who left was not being imitated by a rouge ninja. No one outside the village knew the phase or code, and one small change in the phrasing could mean a lot of things apparently.

"Because the will of a stone is strong within any rock." Akio answered easily, taking his papers back with a smile, "Heard you all are going for Jonin soon, huh? Will I be seeing three other tortured souls on gate duty next mission I return from?"

"Hai, Akio-san." Yumi smiled, "We're entering the exams soon, and we're pretty confident we've got it in the bag!"

"Well, for your sanity I hope you do." Akio snorted, "I managed to get out of gate duty, Taki's team was tasked with that. I assure you, my wife sympathizes."

"Thanks." Shin rolled his eyes, "Hey, what business did the Land of Mountains have for you?"

"They're reestablishing Kagerō Village after thirty-eight odd years." Akio shrugged, "They needed some extra hands so they contacted us and another village from the Land of Mountains."

"Explains why they didn't contact Konoha, that was was pretty nasty I've heard." Shin nodded, "Glad you all are home safe!"

Nods were exchanged, and Naruto pestered his father and his friends all the way through the village.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Question of the Chapter: Haru and Hotaka are...determined to help Naruto. Is the the start of a strong bond between the three brothers?


	5. Arc One, Part Five

"Naruto-kun!"

"Hey, Leiko-chan!" The blonde boy smiled at the girl as he walked into the classroom, "Where's Isamu-sensei? And Kyoshi-sensei? He's never late!"

"Not a clue." The green haired girl shrugged and leaned over her table, to where Naruto sat in the row below her. The classroom was designed so that each table where the students sat was on a different step, so each row could see properly. The used big, long tables instead of individual desks which made for a lot of kids getting elbowed.

Leiko Yuhara, one of Naruto's closer friends besides his brothers in his class, was a rather short girl with a rather nondescript personality. The most vibrant thing about her was her hair, while the rest of her seemed pretty dull to the average bystander. However, she was kind and she was one of the first people to really welcome Naruto into the class. Most of the kids were intimidated by the boy who'd been adopted into the great Fujita clan, unsure how to act around the kid who ever really hung out with his brothers. Leiko was the first one to sit by him at lunch his very first day, and after that everyone snowballed after her. Everyone was kind to him, but they didn't gawk. One thing Naruto liked about Iwa, so far, is that there were no fangirls or fanboys.

Of course, there had been once upon a time. According to the twins and Leiko, those types of boys and girls either get sense nocked into them their first year of class, or they get kicked out. There was no in between, and the academy had no tolerance for those who were not dedicated to their work. Apparently Asuka Ryuzaki, who was another one of Naruto's good friends, had been a fangirl for Haru and Hotaka when she first began the academy with them at the age of five. It was hard to comprehend, as the girl was very much they studious, bookworm type who didn't really give anyone the time of day if she didn't deem them worthy. She could be a bit stuck up, but Leiko said it was a 'defense mechanism' or something like that. She had really ashamed her clan when she almost got kicked out of the academy, the girl had told him, so now she was trying to make up for it.

Haru was still weary around the heiress, though, and every time she opened her mouth he seemed to flinch as if remembering 'darker times' as he and Hotaka called them.

"Class! Find your seats, now!" Isamu Deguchi burst into the room through the door in a flurry of papers, the stack in his hand flying all over from a gust of air caused by how violently he pushed open the door, "Oh, hell."

"Class, kindly take your seats." Kyoshi Hara followed behind his fellow teacher with an amused smile, "We were grading the Genin exams, we apologize for our tardiness."

"Hai, senseis." The class spoke together, watching in varying levels of amusement as Isamu closed the door and bustled around to collect all of the papers he had dropped. He was the louder, more scatterbrained of the two teachers that Iwa's academy had. Naruto knew his mother held them both in very high regard, and they did the same for her, so that automatically made him respect them some. How could kaa-san be wrong about a persons character? She couldn't. Besides, Naruto could usually tell a decent person from a mile away, and they both fit the bill. They didn't purposely not help him in his subjects, or fail him unjustly like every teacher except Iruka-sensei back in Konoha. They were almost as helpful as Rōshi-sensei in some ways.

The class began as it always did, they reviewed the history topic they were studying before going into ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu, which were needed to graduate and become a genin. The two teachers stressed how important it was to not only be able to preform the action, but understand the theory behind the action. Naruto remebered when, during his first week, Kyoshi-sensei had taken them out into the backyard of the academy where there were a few smaller trees and a small pool of water in the ground. He explained the theory behind tree and water walking, and within the day there were only a few students who were not able to at least balance themselves on the water. It was amazing how much a child can learn when there's more than one person who cares in charge.

Iruka-sensei had always tried his best with Naruto, but the other teachers had never liked him. The other kids progressed while he just fell more and more behind, and as much as Iruka tried to help him, the teacher was only one man.

"Okay, class, what's the technique that allows you to alter a shuriken's path while it is in the air?" Isamu looked around the room, "Yes, Minori?"

"Is it the _Kage Shuriken no Jutsu_ (Shadow Shuriken Technique)?" The loud, boisterous boy with raven hair asked, green eyes confident, "I'm pretty sure that's it."

"I'm afraid not." Kyoshi shook his head, "Naruto?"

" _Sōshuriken no Jutsu_ (Manipulated Shuriken Technique)?"

"Good job. The Sōshuriken no Jutsu is when you attach an elastic and sturdy string to a shuriken, which allows you to alter its path after you've thrown it. People extremely skilled with this technique can even move it with just their fingertips." Kyoshi-sensei explained, "Now class, we're going to head out back and do some sparring for a grade."

The mood change was instant. Kids jumping out of their seats, headed for the backdoors and muttering to each other who they hoped they got to fight. Sparring days were always the best because, after the initial review of topics, the fights took up the rest of the day. They didn't happen too often, full sparring days, maybe three or four times a month. However they were always looked forward to by the majority of the academy. Haru and Hotaka slinked over to walk with Naruto, each one of them throwing an arm over his shoulders, causing him to glare.

"Get off!" He hissed, trying to shrug their arms off, "You're gonna knock me down!"

"Why, otouto, I'm hurt." Haru mimed an ache in his chest before bonking Naruto on the head, "We're older you know!"

Naruto ducked out from under their arms and kicked Haru lightly in the shin, causing the nine year to hiss a profanity at him. Naruto smiled slightly, "I'm still better though!"

"Hey!" Isamu smacked both the kids upside the head, "Save the fighting for outside! Now get going, pick up the pace!"

"Hai, sensei!" The three boys chorused, rushing to follow the rest of their class outside.

The kids stood in a large circle, giving enough room for their two teachers and the opponents fighting in the middle, anxiously waiting to see who they would fight. Leiko smiled at Asuka, the two girls having been some sort of rivals for the past year or so. They usually got paired up with each other, being the top two female students in the class, and their fights were usually very violent and almost always a stalemate, as they both came from prominent clans that were known for their powerful techniques. Naruto wondered who he'd get paired up with, as his partner when it came to sparring shifted around a lot. It was hard to say who the top male students were, as the title was usually passed from the twins to Naruto to that one Yamada heir and sometimes even to the one civilian kid Izanagi. Normally one of the three Fujita brothers held it, though, much to the frustration of the other clan heirs.

"First match is Naruto Fujita vs Katsu Yamada!"

Well, at least it'd be interesting. Naruto stepped into the circle with encouraging pats, or more like slaps, on the back from Haru and Hotaka. Katsu stepped out from beside him, all stony bravado with a slight confident gleam in his eye. The other boy had sandy brown hair and deeply tanned skin, with dark green eyes that were now narrowed in concentration. Kyoshi-sensei began to read off the usual rules; no aiming to kill, any jutsu is allowed, any taijutsu is allowed, any genjutsu is allowed, drawing blood is allowed. Finally they were given the go ahead be their sensei jumped back to avoid immediate attacks.

As soon as Kyoshi was out of the way, Katsu immediately drew a kunai and aimed it right for Naruto's head, but the blonde boy just side stepped it causing the kids behind him to scatter to avoid getting hit. The Yamada heir charged at Naruto right after his long range attack, aiming a punch at Naruto's head, to which the blonde boy ducked and grabbed Katsu's arm. Yanking the arm over the boys head and behind his back, Naruto struggled to get him down to the ground when the Yamada reared his head back and hit Naruto firmly in the stomach. Rearing back, the blonde boy released the brunette and aimed a kick at his fellow student while the heir was still on the ground. Dodging by rolling to the side, Katsu twisted himself and got to his feet, beginning to blur through hand signs.

" _Doton: Retsudo Tenshō_ (Earth Release: Tearing Earth Turning Palm)!"

Rocks from the ground began to jut up towards Naruto, the epicenter being where Katsu smacked his hands against the ground. It wasn't as strong as it could've been, and Naruto quickly retaliated by making hand signs of his own. He used Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu (Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique) silently, just as Rōshi-sensei had taught him a few months ago. The earth below him turned to a sand like consistency, allowing Naruto to sink into the ground as rocks continued to be hurled at him. Underground, as Katsu began to look around for his opponent, Naruto maneuvered so that he was right under Katsu, trying to make as few motions as possible so as not to ripple the earth and make his position known.

" _Fujita Sutairu: Gurēto Taki no Panchi_ (Fujita Style: Great Taki Punch)!" Naruto yelled as he came out of the ground fist first, nailing Katsu right in the chest as the boy stumbled backwards to avoid Naruto. The move had been created by Akio to be used in accordance with the Hiding Like a Mole Technique, aptly naming it after his wife when she got angry. Taki was a very kind, very calm woman but when she was angry you were advised not to mess with her. After Rōshi had taught Naruto the parent technique, Akio had finally decided to teach all three of his sons his very abrasive taijutsu style, which often left people crippled when Akio was truly serious about fighting.

Katsu recovered quickly, " _Doton: Ganseki Shuriken_ (Earth Release: Rock Shuriken)!"

The rock weapons flew at Naruto at an alarming speed and hit him dead center in the chest, but with a puff of smoke it turned out to be a testing dummy, which were set up a yard away from where the fight was taking place. Now from behind Katsu, Naruto shouted, " _Fūton: Kamikaze_ (Wind Release: Divine Wind)!"

The powerful gust of chakra converted to wind sent Katsu flying back, landing on the ground and not getting back up.

Isamu shook his head, muttering, "Monstrous clan brats."

"Winner is Naruto Fujita!" Kyoshi announced as Naruto went to rejoin his brothers on the sidelines. They both gave him silent, proud smiled and Hotaka even gave him a noogie, not that it was appreciated. As the blonde boy tried to help his hair recover from his brothers knuckles, Kyoshi began to read out the next match of Leiko Yuhara and Asuka Ryuzaki.

"No! Wait!" Katsu struggled to stand up, "How did the adopted freaking Yellow Flash look alike win?"

"Hey!" Haru and Hotaka shouted at the same time, "Watch your fucking mouth!"

"Fujita...s...watch it! I'll tell your mother about your language problem!" Isamu glared, then turned to Katsu, "Naruto, Yamada, come with me right now!"

Sending an apologetic glance to his friends whose fight he'd miss, he quickly followed his sensei out of the backyard and back into the classroom. Isamu leant against his desk and looked at the two boys in front of him, especially Katsu who was glaring daggers at Naruto.

"Listen, Yamada...that was a very inappropriate thing to say. I would like you to apologize to Fujita right now."

"Why?" The brunette boy stared at his sensei, "Am I wrong?"

"Just because Fujita is a blonde male means nothing." Isamu narrowed his eyes, "Hell, his mother is blonde. Hair color means nothing. Now, apologize."

"His adopted mother..."

"Hey!" Naruto snapped to look at Katsu with wide eyes, "Don't talk about my kaa-san!"

"She's not your kaa-san!" Katsu sneered, "Quit acting like your actually a part of that clan! Your not, you low-!"

"That is enough!" Isamu yelled, probably loud enough that the kids outside heard, "I've had enough of you today, Yamada! Now apologize right now, or do you want to be expelled for refusing orders and disorderly conduct?"

The boy's eyes widened impossibly before they narrowed, "Whatever. Sorry, Naruto."

Under his sensei's stare, Naruto begrudgingly nodded his head, "It's fine."

After school, as he walked his brothers to the Dango Shop where they'd wait for him until his lesson was over, Haru and Hotaka were practically boiling. Apparently everyone had heard everything that went on inside, and Naruto was pretty sure that the twins were angrier about the situation than he was.

"Not part of the clan? As if! That little runt is just jealous because he's a Yamada! They're known to have inbred in the past, you know, it's probably what's causing his fucking mental issues!" Hotaka snapped, with Haru glaring in agreement.

Naruto looked at his brother with wide eyes, "I don't care what he says, guys. I know I'm part of the clan, I know you're my older brothers just like Emiko is my little sister. Just like kaa-san and tou-san are my parents. That's how things are now, and I'm happy."

"Still." Haru sniffed, "He disobeyed orders. You don't do that. He should've done what sensei said, even if it hurt his pride. He just...just decimated any respect that anyone had for him by pulling that little stunt! You never disobey a superior's orders, especially when they're a jonin teacher and you're an academy student!"

"It's just wrong, otouto!" Hotaka agreed as the opened the door to the shop, the scent of dango washing over them, "He shouldn't have said those things to begin with, let alone insinuate you're like the Yellow Flash. He'd killed so many Iwa shinobi, you'd never be like him!"

Naruto refrained from commenting that it was during a Shinobi World War that all happened and instead hugged his brothers tightly before he left for his lesson, "Thanks, onii-sans! Be back in a few!"

And with that Naruto was left to sprint to his lesson.

* * *

 

"Just take a deep breath and focus on entering your own mind." Rōshi explained, sitting with his legs crossed in front of Naruto, "Focus on contacting the fox."

"Hai, sensei."

Naruto calmed his mind from the events of the day and tried to envision his own mind, feeling his seal tingle on his stomach momentarily. Suddenly, the cold air of the training arena was gone and the hard ground he was sitting on had disappeared from under him. He was sitting on grass, now, and it was very hot all around him. Opening his eyes, he found himself face to face with the demon fox known as the Kyūbi. It had a steel collar around its neck with what looked like seals written around it, and a very short chain that didn't allow the beast to get close to Naruto. It shook itself, trying to break free with teeth bared to snap at the blonde boy in front of it.

"So...you're the Kyūbi." Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Do you know why I'm here?"

The nine-year-old looked at the scenery around him. He was sitting on the grassy ground of a mountain ledge, the cloudy air indicating that they were quite high up in the air. It should've been cold, even colder that Iwa at the current moment, but he supposed having a fire demon inhabiting his mind would change the temperature a bit. Taller mountains rose around him, going as far as the eyes could see, and it reminded him of one of the picture books of scenery around Iwa that his kaa-san had shown him.

 **"If it's not to free me, then leave!"** The beast snarled in a deep voice, making Naruto blink and flinch black slightly, **"I have no time for your childish nonsense!"**

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the beast, "I want to make peace and have access to your power! I want to learn to control it!"

The demon seemed to sneer at him, **"Why should I give you access to such a thing? A whelp like you could not even possibly control a hundredth of my power! Unless, of course, you wish to have me take over. I'd be happy to run things for a change."**

"I'm not stupid." Naruto snapped, "That's the one thing I know not to do, especially with how much Rōshi-sensei told me not to!"

 **"Then LEAVE!"** The Kyūbi roared, sending a gust of air breezing over Naruto, **"You are not fit to use my power! You are not fit to even be my container! I even preferred your sniveling mother over you!"**

"Hey!" The blonde boy stood up, "Don't talk about my birth mother like that!"

 **"I will do whatever I please, whelp."** It's large eyes narrowed, **"Prove you're not weak trash, and I may consider giving you a fraction of my power!"**

"Oh, I'll prove it alright!" Blue eyes narrowed, "I'm not some weak-!"

 **"You bore me."** The giant fox waved a single paw, **"You now know my conditions, whelp. Follow them and I may acknowledge you as my container. Now flee my sight."**

Naruto was about to protest until he felt a jerking feeling in his seal and all of a sudden he was sitting in front of Rōshi-sensei again. Opening and closing his mouth a few times, Naruto felt annoyance bubble up inside his chest at the fact that he'd been forced out of his own mind.

"How'd it go?" The red haired man chuckled slightly, "From the look on your face, I'm guessing not good."

"I hate the stupid bastard!" Naruto folded his arms, "All he did was call me a-a whelp the entire time, insult my birth mother, and say I'm too weak for his power!"

Rōshi sighed and shook his head, "I knew that would happen. Reminds me of my first interaction with the Yonbi. I was a bit older than you, maybe thirteen, when I first contacted the four tailed beast. It was quite rude as well, but over the years it's begrudgingly given me control over most of it's power to the point I can use it in a fight, and maybe it's even grown to like me a bit. You'll get there, Naruto, just-"

"But when?"

"What have I said about interrupting me?" Black eyes narrowed, "It takes time, so just be patient. We've spent all this time preparing for when you went to meet the nine tails, and it's good you managed to make it into your mind on the first try. For some, it takes longer. Now, run on home. I'd say we've done enough today, and the lessons almost o ver anyways."

"Thanks, Rōshi-sensei!" Naruto sprung up and grabbed his book bag off the dusty ground before running out, sending a wave behind him, "Today was great!"

The red haired jinchūriki watched the boy run off before shaking his head, "You'd think after I upped his weights and laps, he wouldn't have anymore energy to run."

* * *

 

Sliding into the Dango Shop, Naruto smiled at Daiki as he made his way over to where his brothers sat with a large plate of the colorful dumplings they loved so much. Plopping himself down in the booth beside Haru, Naruto gladly grabbed one of the sticks and began chowing down as Hotaka protested that he should have to buy his own. Rolling his eyes, the blonde boy continued to eat until the three of them managed to finish of the batch and make their way out of the shop.

"See you tomorrow, Daiki-san!" Hotaka yelled behind them as they exited the shop, the bells hanging on the door jingling as they left.

"I think we're his main source of income, you know?" Haru laughed as they headed home, "I mean, sure, it's a popular place but we spend every week's allowance there almost as soon as we get it."

"We're just helping him get that engagement run sooner." Hotaka rolled his eyes, "You hear about that, Naruto?"

"What? Why's Daiki-san getting an engagement ring?" Naruto's eyes widened, "Is he finally gonna ask Yumi-san? She used to complain about them having dated for so long but going nowhere almost every time I went down to the gate!"

"Yup!" Haru nodded, "He's been saving for the ring, told us so himself! He's gonna ask her next Thursday!"

"Wow!" Naruto blinked, "Yumi-san is gonna be really happy!"

"Yeah, no joke!" Hotaka cut in, "So, otouto! We've been talking things over while you were at your lessons-!"

"You mean you stuffed your faces with dango and occasionally acknowledged each other?" The blonde laughed, "Cause that's what that usually means!"

"Shut up!" Haru was about to continue when he heard shouts from behind, "Wha-?"

"Naruto-kun!" A dark haired girl in a one-sleeved red shinobi uniform and a chunin jacket was rushing towards them, "Naruto-kun, come on!"

Kurotsuchi grabbed his arm and looked towards the twins with dark eyes, "My teammates and I are going to take him for a few moments."

It wasn't a question. Both Haru and Hotaka sweat dropped before nodding vigorously, disappearing down the street without a goodbye. Naruto rolled his eyes, they were scared of Kurotsuchi, everyone his age was honestly except the select few. Deidara came up behind Naruto and wrapped an arm around his neck giving him a noogie much like one of the twins had earlier. Ittan simply shook his at his teammates, pulling Deidara off Naruto before the long haired blonde broke the kid's skull.

"What? Seriously? Again?" Naruto tried in vain to fix his hair once more as Kurotsuchi dragged him down the streets of Iwa, much to the amusement of the villagers, "And what do you want?"

She glanced back with a smirk, "Do you wanna run laps, kid? I'm your superior, a chunin, you're just a little academy student! Besides, Akio-sensei requested we do this."

"What?" Naruto furrowed his brows, "Why would tou-san request his old genin team kidnap his son?"

"Because you need a weapon, un!" Deidara looked at the blonde boy, "Every good ninja needs a weapon besides the basics!"

Naruto frowned, "What? Like a sword? A katana, like the ones Haru and Hotaka use?"

"Something like that, yes." Kurotsuchi looked around at the shops, "Ugh, I'm not taking you to one of these civilian-run weapons stores. We're going to a real, authentic place."

"What? I get my kunai from these stores all the time?"

"This isn't just some kunai or shuriken, Naruto-kun." The dark haired girl shook her head, "This is a weapon you'll carry for the rest of your life as a Shinobi of Iwa. It's imperative that you get a quality weapon, something that's reliable."

"Well, what do you use?" Naruto frowned, looking at his dad's old team, "I don't see many weapons on you guys."

"I have my clay, un!" Deidara pointed at the pouch on his hips, "It's my weapon for when I go into the Explosion Corps. Kuro-chan has a traditional chokutō, which is basically a straight one edged sword. It's been used since the beginning of time, un. Then Ittan is an Iryō-nin, so he has his chakra scalpels and other scary medical ninjutsu, un."

"Oh. So should I get a chokutō?" Naruto looked to Kurotsuchi, "So you can help me, Kuro-nee?"

"Listen." She looked at the younger boy, "You have to base your weapon off what you want. Nobody else can make this decision. Akio-sensei asked us to take you while he was away on his mission, he trusts us to not influence your decisions. It's your choice, and your choice alone."

"Okay." Naruto sighed, "Where are we even going? I've never been to this part of the village? Kaa-san says I'm not allowed till I'm a genin!"

"This is a special case." Ittan explained, "This is where ninja buy their supplies, it's normally customary for only ninja in Iwa's ranks to come down here. Almost no civilians around, unless they're with their fresh genin kids. All the shops are run by retired ninja or ninja who were given honorable discharges for illness or injury. Or ones that just quit because they wanted to be home for their family, I suppose there are a few of those."

"Hai." Kurotsuchi nodded, "So these people know what they're doing. They know more weapons than just a kunai or shuriken or ninja wire."

They came to a larger store on the corner of the street, and as soon as Naruto walked in he gaped at how many weapons were hanging around the store. Hand crafted, a sign said, if you break it you buy it. Gulping at the prices, Naruto reminded himself he had parents to worry about expenses and began to look around. Deidara snickered at the awestruck look on his face and went up to the counter to get a refill of explosive clay. As Kurotsuchi and Ittan looked around too, Naruto wondered to the back of the shop. There was a whole wall of katanas, like the ones Haru and Hotaka used, and there were a few wakizashi like the ones tou-san used. There was a small section of naginata, the pole like weapons with sharp blades hanging on the wall gleaming.

He knew he should probably get a katana, that way Haru and Hotaka could show him theire katas and teach him how to use his weapon. However, he found himself not liking the prospect of using the sword. Moving on into the back, Naruto saw the wicked looking kusarigama, the sickle-like weapon that very few learned how to master nowadays. The were much popular back in the warring clans time period, much like the chokutō. Finally, all the way in the back, there was a wall lined with staffs and naginata type weapons. Tilting his head, Naruto took a closer look at them. He knew they weren't as popular as other weapons among ninja, but he also knew that if he mastered one it would throw off a lot of opponents who weren't used to fighting against one.

"Looking at staff, boy?" He heard an elderly voice speak from the side.

Jumping, he turned to face a woman who looked, in all honesty, very severe. She was clearly older, shown by her gray hair and partially wrinkled skin, but she didn't look out of shape like many elderly men and women did. She wore a dark blue kimono style top with red trim and a red obi along with a light blue, long skirt that reached her knees and had red flowers patterned along the edges of the skirt. Underneath she wore long, black tights that covered her entire leg and on her feet were old fashioned, wooden sandals. Black eyes looked at him with a hard look, despite the kind smile on her face. Naruto recognized the woman immediately; Jun Aokawa. Also known as Iwa's Feared Weapons Mistress. She was a living breathing legend, much like the Yondaime Hokage in Konoha. She also happened to be the great-grandmother to Shin Aokawa, one of his friends that used to guard the gates.

"Hai, Aokawa-sama!" Naruto looked at her with wide blue eyes, "I-I, um, I liked the double bladed one. The double naginata. The one up there!"

"Hmm..." She looked him over, considering him, "It's good for wind chakra, better than any other weapon I've made. What's your affinity, kid?"

"Wind!" Naruto's face broke out into a smile, "My affinity is wind! And earth, but my strongest was wind."

"You'd be suited for this, then, kid." Naruto began to smiled wider before she continued, "I don't know if I'm comfortable selling this to a runt like you, though. You think you can handle it?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes. First Katsu, then the nine tails, now this lady. He couldn't catch a break!

"Yeah, baa-chan, I think I can handle it." He snarked, much to Jun's displeasure as the woman narrowed her eyes. In the back of his mind, Naruto knew it was a bad idea to sass the woman who once stood toe to toe with the Nidaime Tsuchikage in terms of power, but it had been a long day and he was very annoyed. Besides, as the twins often said, his sense of self-preservation wasn't that strong.

"Watch it, runt." Jun snapped, "Why should I let a disrespectful academy student have this weapon? Because your a clan kid? Or, let me guess, a clan heir?"

"No!" Naruto snapped, "More like because I want to take that double naginata and learn how to use it for Iwa's benefit! I wanna protect the people who took me in when I was abandoned by Konoha! I want to protect my kaa-san and my tou-san and my older brothers and my baby sister! I want to take that damn staff and master it!"

Raising one thinning eyebrow, Jun smirked, "You've got a big mouth, but I almost like you. Fine, I'll sell you the thing. Don't make me regret it, or you'll find out why I'm so feared. I don't want this to be some pretty toy you keep on a shelf or hang on a wall. So many use weapons as things to show off when they don't know how to use them. Boy, if I let you have this double bladed staff or naginata, however you wish to call it, I want you to take it and I want you to coat it in blood for Iwa, for your home. I want you to take this and protect this damn village with all you have once you become a ninja. You got that?"

"Hai, oba-san!" Naruto nodded his head, smiling and watching in partial awe as she threw a kunai with ninja wire attached to it and wrapped it around the staff before yanking it down and catching it easily in her hands, "Thank you!"

"Hn." She smirked, "Just don't drop it and chop a foot off. Now go up to the counter, that's where one of my granddaughters is. She'll check you out."

Nodding quickly, Naruto dashed off to the front of the store with his new chosen weapon in hand.


	6. Act One, Part Six

Akio smiled, wrapping an arm around his wife's waist and gently cooing at the young child she held in her arms. Naruto, Haru, and Hotaka all sat at the dinner table talking about the events of the day. Well, Naruto was talking and the twins were growling, it seemed. Raising an eyebrow, Akio took a seat while Taki put Emiko in her highchair before sitting the food down on the table. As the boys each took a serving of the meal, the father noticed the glares that adorned the twins faces. Mentally letting out a long, suffering sigh, he knew something was wrong. He just got home three hours ago from a mission, and now he had to deal with childhood drama. As everyone began eating, Taki glanced at him sharply and nodded towards the boys. Akio restrained stabbing himself with his dinner knife and instead braced himself for whatever may come out of his children's mouths.

"Haru, Hotaka. Is there a reason you're glaring a hole into your plates?"

Glancing up, Haru pursed his lips. For a moment, he feared the louder and more rash of the twins wasn't even going to talk but under his continued stared the nine year old eventually busted out loudly, "Stupid Katsu Yamada called otouto names today and made fun of him!"

A frown settled onto Taki's face, "Is this true, Naruto-kun?"

"Yeah..." The blonde boy sighed, "It's nothing, though."

"No!" Haru snapped, "No it's not! The stupid, loud-mouthed, inbred brat said that Naruto wasn't a real member of the Fujita clan!"

Akio refused to acknowledge the inbred comment. He absolutely wasn't dealing with that can of worms today, nor did he want to even know where his son heard the term.

"Honey," Taki looked at her adopted son with sad eyes, "You know we love you just like-!"

"I know, I know, kaa-san!" Naruto smiled, "That's why it's not a big deal."

"But he insulted him by doing more than just that!" Hotaka cut in, surprising Akio as normally the elder twin wasn't one for his outbursts, "He-He..."

Haru lowered his voice and continued with what his twin was trying to get out, "He said Naruto looked like the Yellow Flash!"

Cold dread filled Akio's body as his eyes involuntarily widened. Quickly gaining control over himself, he glanced over at Taki to see her stricken expression and knew his kids were going to assume something. Naruto's eyebrows furrowed at the reaction of his parents, while Haru and Hotaka just wondered why they seemed so shocked and upset.

"T-that's...that's an awful thing for him to say!" Taki gasped out, trying to sound insulted, "I'll be having a talk with his mother, I can assure you of that!"

Akio nodded, going along with his wife, "That is an insult to the Fujita clan. We'll make sure the boy doesn't say it again."

"Tou-san, kaa-san!" Naruto assumed they were upset at the slight because of the clan, "Please don't get into a fight with the Yamada clan over this!"

"It will be taken care of." This time, the children missed the significance of Akio's glance to his wife, "As I said, it won't be said again."

Taki nodded, "Exactly. Now, finish up dinner and head up to your rooms, okay? I'm going to put Emiko-chan to bed."

Dinner was finished in a tense, thick silence as the boys noticed their parents strange behavior. Finishing their food, the twins filed out and left their father and Naruto in the room alone. Pushing around the remaining rice on his plate, Naruto looked up at Akio who was now reading a scroll and trying to pointedly ignore the curious looks he was getting from Naruto. He could feel Taki's presence reentering the room and sitting beside him. She laid a comforting hand on his leg and, seeing the look in her eyes, he had a sinking feel about what was going to happen tonight. Finally setting his scroll aside, he looked up to see Naruto looking at him with wide, blue eyes. A face nearly identical to the Yellow Flash, except for being younger and having whisker marks. It was disturbing, almost, because Akio himself had fought in the war where they were pitted against the Yondaime Hokage. What a strange twist of events that now he was raising his enemy's son.

But, no. Naruto was his son now. Taki's son. He belonged to them because he was a Fujita, and the clan stuck together no matter what.

"Tou-san...what's wrong?" The blonde boy's small voice came from across the table, "Has...has something happened? Did Konoha find out, do they want me back?"

His voice was so scared but held no hatred, and Akio knew shock was clear on his face that his son thought that, "No! No, Naruto, no. They haven't requested you back, they don't know you're here, they'll never know you're here. Besides, even if they did want you back, they can't have you."

"Then what's wrong?" Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Why did you get so upset when...? Oh. Is it about the Yellow Flash comment?"

Both Akio and Taki could practically see the gears in the boys head working as he evaluated the situation. He was incredibly intuitive for his age, too intuitive if you asked his parents, and they knew it was a matter of time before he figured it out for himself. It would be better to tell him now and keep his trust than to have him find out later on his own and feel as though they were keeping secrets. Reaching over, Akio grabbed Taki's hand for confidence as he took a deep breath and faced his decision head on. He'd deal with the consequences later, for sure, but right now he had to try and break the news to his nine-year-old son.

"Naruto-kun, do you remember when you first arrived in Iwa?" Akio spoke delicately, "When we told you about Kushina-san, and other things regarding her?"

When Naruto nodded, Akio flared his chakra to make sure the twins were indeed in their bedroom before continuing, "There is something we refrained from telling you. When you asked about your father, we didn't give you the entire truth. He did die in the attack, Naruto-kun, but his identity was kept a secret to everyone except, we assume, the Hokage and the so called Council of Konoha."

It was no secret what most people in Iwa thought of Konoha's Council. A shinobi village headed by a Kage, yet they choose to have clan heads and civilians on a council to boss said Kage around? It was baffling how a man like the Kami no Shinobi allowed them to have such an impact on his decisions. Akio tried to think of the Tsuchikage doing something along those lines, but he couldn't even picture the hilarious situation in his mind.

Naruto chewed his lip, "It's him, isn't it? The Yellow Flash, the Yondaime. That's why you got so upset, that's why you lied about it."

"Yes..." Taki sighed, "We didn't want you to know, to either feel pressure to gain power or to feel like all of Iwa hates you. Because, no matter what, you are a citizen of Iwa and you will be a ninja of Iwa. This will always be your home, okay, honey? We will always love you, and this village will always love you."

Blue eyes stared at the table, "My own father sealed a demon inside of me. The same demon that killed my mother and then killed him."

Akio nodded, "It's because you are an Uzumaki, we assume. You remember the explanation given, correct?"

"Hai, tou-san." Relief flooded the Fujita clan head when he heard his son call him that, "I remember."

Taki pursed her lips and left her seat to kneel beside Naruto and grip his shoulder tightly, and when she spoke it was in a fierce whisper, "Naruto-kun, listen to me. Your parents were very powerful and very talented people, just like you are. They must've loved you so much and they would be so proud of you if they could see you now. Understand me when I say this, they loved you and cared for you and I never want you to be ashamed of where you come from. Got that? I don't care what people say, or what happened in any war, or whatever else people might tell you about them. They were doing their jobs, and I'm sure they were amazing and kind people. They must've been, to be so adored by Konoha. Don't be ashamed of them, and don't be ashamed of yourself."

The nine-year-old looked at her with wide eyes, before looking to Akio.

"She's right, Naruto-kun."

Nodding shakily, Naruto stared at his mother with wide, watery eyes, "Kaa-san...d-do you think you could tell me stories about them? I-I know you're my parents now but I think I'd like to know what they were like."

"Well..." Taki looked over to Akio and ran a hand through her blonde hair, "I didn't exactly know them personally, Naruto-kun, but I'm sure I could find some history books. Maybe ones about the Uzumaki clan and I'm sure...well...not sure I could find one about the Yellow Flash or the Namikaze family. That was your fathers family, he wasn't from a clan, his full name was Minato Namikaze. Not sure about the history of them, though. I might have to make a trip to the Land of Birds, but I'm sure I'll come up with some scrolls or books or something."

Tiny arms threw themselves around her as Naruto hugged Taki with as much strength as he could, which was a surprising amount for a boy his age, "Thank you so much, kaa-san."

Releasing his adoptive mother, he stepped back and looked at the two people who had single handedly given him more love than he had ever felt in his life. Gnawing on his cheek, Naruto tried to suppress tears as he nodded at Akio before looking towards the stairs, "I-I believe I'm going to go to bed. Goodnight tou-san, kaa-san."

"Naruto-kun!" Akio called out to the boy headed up the stairs, "You can't tell anyone, okay? It will make you a target, and it may damage you ninja career. We'll discuss the imperative secretiveness of the topic in more depth tomorrow. Is that clear?"

"Hai, tou-san. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

With that, the blonde boy was gone.

"You think I'm gonna be able to find unbiased books about the Yellow Flash around here?"

"Nope." Akio snorted, "Have fun visiting the Land of Fire. I think that's the closest place to get good info on their clans and families, let alone info that's washed in a subtly biased positive light. Pretty sure any and all books around the Land of Earth and surrounding countries will condemn Konoha and anything to do with Konoha as evil."

"That's what I thought."

Naruto began to make for his room as tears began to roll down his cheeks when, all of a sudden, the door to Haru's room swung open and four hands pulled the blonde inside. Soon the adopted Fujita found himself tumbled onto the ground, with the twins staring at him in concern. Trembling, Naruto thought of their low opinion of the Yondaime, of his father, and wondered how they would react if they knew his parentage. They had only grudgingly stopped making jokes about Konoha when Naruto arrived because it upset their new brother. They managed to temporarily put aside the hate for the village they were taught to loathe because their 'otouto' asked them to. Naruto knew, however, they would not so easily put aside their hatred for the Yondaime, for Minato Namikaze, for Naruto's birth father.

"Otouto!" Haru spoke in a low voice so their parents downstairs wouldn't hear, "What's wrong?"

Naruto pulled himself up onto Haru's bed, as it was more than large enough to fit all three of them, and hid his face in his knees. He didn't want to cry in front of his brothers, didn't want them to think less of him, but the weight of everything crashed down on him. So many secrets, so much deceiving. He'd been lying to them for about a year already, telling them his private lessons were to help him catch up and not to control the demon that lived inside of his gut. He choked on his breath when that thought entered the playing field. Dear Kami-sama, what would they say when they eventually found out about the Kyūbi? They looked at Rōshi normally, but the red headed man also didn't live in the same house as them. Would they hate him? If not for the demon he held at bay, then for lying to them?

As his sobs increased, the twins on either side of him looked at each other in panic and Hotaka gently shook Naruto's shoulder, "Otouto, seriously, what's wrong?"

Haru scowled, "If it was Yamada, when we go in to class tomorrow I'll kick his ass! I promise, he'll get what's coming!"

Naruto shook his head, scrubbing at his eyes, "I-It wasn't Katsu...I can't tell you..."

Hotaka's eyebrows furrowed together, "Naruto-kun, we're your big brothers! You can tell us anything!"

Looking up, eyes red from crying, the blonde boy tried to avoid his brother's gaze, "Tou-san said."

"So?" Hotaka chewed on his lip, "We can keep it a secret from tou-san!"

"It's supposed to be a secret to everyone except tou-san and kaa-san...and, well, the Tsuchikage..." Naruto huffed, "I can't tell you guys."

Not only was he forbidden to tell them, but he didn't want to.

"It's not exactly disobeying orders if you tell us and we keep it a secret right?" Haru smiled, nudging Naruto's shoulder, "The goal is to keep it from the villagers and other ninja, probably. So if you tell us, and we don't let anyone know that we know, then it's not breaking any rules!"

"No." The whiskered boy's voice was quiet, almost scared, "You'll hate me if I tell you."

"Pfft!" Haru scoffed along with his twin, "As if, otouto! Your family, our brother! We could never hate you!"

A thought came, unbidden and unwanted, and it was that Naruto could almost bet Sasuke used to say that about his older brother. Now look at them.

"C'mon." Hotaka sighed, "Do you really trust us so little? I thought we were best friends!"

"Yeah!" Haru nodded, "Best friends, best brothers!"

"You have to tell us! We'll keep it a secret, it'll be like a special club! A club that only us three are members of!" Hotaka raised his eyebrows, "If it makes you feel better, I promise we won't hate you. Even if we wanted to, kaa-san and tou-san wouldn't let us. Not that we want to, of course, but you get the idea."

Naruto unfurled himself from the ball he had wrapped himself in and looked at Hotaka, uncertain and thinking of all the things that could go wrong, "You sure, aniki?"

Both the twins beamed, nodding vigorously, "Of course we are!"

Taking a deep breath, Naruto nodded, "Well, I guess it all started with the Uzumaki clan. That's, uhm, that's my mother's clan. You know Mito Uzumaki, the Shodai Hokage's wife? She was what you call a jinchūriki. That's what Rōshi-sensei is, okay? It just means you have one of the nine tailed beasts sealed inside of you. Well, Uzumaki's were known for their strong life force and skills in sealing so we were the clan chosen to keep the Kyūbi. After many years, Mito had to find another jailor for the demon. Uzushiogakure, the village where the Uzumaki clan lived, was wiped out recently in a war. My birth mother, Kushina Uzumaki, either left before it happened or she escaped the destruction. Either way, since I don't know, we'll just say she was chosen by Mito to be the next jinchūriki."

"So your mom held a demon?" Haru raised an eyebrow, "That's what your so upset about? It's not a big deal, Iwa has Rōshi and Han, though Han isn't in the village currently."

"Yeah, we're not gonna hate you for that." Hotaka rolled his eyes, "You're being a drama queen!"

"If you'd let me finish." Naruto snapped, rubbing his temples as he felt a headache coming on, "I-I'm not good at explaining things, but Kushina became pregnant with me. When she was giving birth, though, the Kyūbi broke free from its seal because she was using all her energy on other things, I guess. It's never been fully explained to me, even. Long story short, you know how Konoha got attacked and the Yondaime supposedly killed the beast, right? Well he didn't. He sealed it in the only remaining Uzumaki and the only child he had on hand, which happened to be me."

"You're lying." Haru narrowed his eyes, "There's no way!"

Pursing his lips, Naruto stood, much to the protests and apologies of the twins who though he was leaving, and turned to face towards his brothers. Lifting his shirt slightly, just enough to show his stomach, he channeled chakra into the seal, making it appear on his skin in all it Uzumaki style Fūinjutsu glory. The twins eyes widened at the sight, looking at Naruto with disbelief.

"That's why you train with Rōshi-san everyday after class." Hotaka took a measured breath, "Your training to control it."

Naruto fell backwards onto a chair, looking at them with narrowed eyes, "You're already seeing me differently."

"Of course we are!" Hotaka snapped, glaring at his brother, "Do you know what this means? How many people are going to want to come after you because of this, huh, otouto? A lot. We've seen some of the treatment Rōshi-san gets, and he's been in this village his whole life! We're gonna have to double our training and everything!"

Haru groaned, "Am I gonna get shoved into the ground more?"

"Yes!" Hotaka looked at his twin, annoyed, "Do you know how many people are going to want Naruto's head when this comes out? Not just a few power hungry nin in Iwa, but all over the world. He has to be prepared for that or-or he could get seriously hurt! Or worse, killed!"

Biting his lip, Haru sighed, "You're right."

Slumping forwards slightly in his seat, Naruto stared at the two identical boys with an expression of dumb shock, "That's what you're worried about?"

"We're not bad people, Naruto-chan." Haru gave him a teasing smile, "Despite what you may think, we're not shallow or-or mean."

"Yeah, you were a baby. We can't hate you for that." Hotaka rolled his eyes, "Duh, idiot. What we can be mad at you for, though, is lying about those lessons and stuff! You should've just told us!"

"But wait, there's more." Naruto muttered, gaining the twins attention back in the form of confused stares, "Oh, yes, there is indeed more. We haven't, ah, we haven't talked about my dad yet."

"Tou-san?" Haru crinkled his nose further in confusion, "He's downstairs-! Ouch!"

Hotaka shook his hand from where he just slapped his twin on the head, "He means his birth father, dumbass."

"Oh. Sorry..." Haru smiled sheepishly, "Continue."

"Not sure I want to." Naruto closed his eyes before opening them with a bigger headache then what he had ten seconds ago, "This was the part tou-san said absolutely no one can know."

"We have to." Haru sniffed, "We gotta know what's coming for you in the future, otouto!"

"Okay." The blonde knew that tune was about to change as soon as the words came out, and he didn't know how to phrase this without it coming out awfully, "Well, my father was the Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze. He was married to my mother, Kushina Uzumaki, and he sealed the demon inside of me."

Well, in hindsight, he could've phrased it better.

It was silent, and all he felt were two pairs of hazel eyes searching his face for any hint of a lie. Naruto fidgeted, knowing and expecting the shitstorm that was about to erupt. He wondered if he should attempt to pass it off as a prank, surely they'd buy that, right? Probably not, with how much Naruto was sweating. Well, sweating or crying. All he knew is that water ran down his cheeks as his brothers gave him stony stares. All of a sudden, seeming to snap back to reality, Haru's face crumpled into a frown as he got up off the bed and padded over to Naruto.

"Hey, hey!" The brunette boy shook his head, "No crying!"

The twins were soon both at his side, Hotaka kneeling in front of him and dabbing at his face with a napkin like an overprotective mother.

Hotaka nodded, eyes still a bit unfocused due to shock, "Yeah...you just stopped, don't start again. You're like Emiko."

Sniffing, Naruto looked at them with wide eyes, "You're not mad?"

"No." Hotaka blinked, "I'm shocked, unnerved, a bit in awe, and very scared for your future safety."

"Yeah, seriously." Haru shook his head, looking at his younger brother, "Do you know how hard your making this whole 'protect your younger siblings' thing?"

"I'm...sorry?" Naruto tilted his head, "I-I...I'm a bit in shock right now. I imagined this conversation going very differently and I..."

"Well, you shouldn't have." Hotaka rolled his eyes, "Besides, don't be sorry. We just get to throw more rocks at Haru now for your training."

Haru scowled, "Can't we throw rocks at the dumb Yamada?"

"Yes."

The next morning, when Naruto and the twins came tumbling down the stairs in the race to get to their mother's pancakes, Akio was pretty much in shock to see the blonde boy happy and smiling. In fact, he seemed happier. Almost like a weight had been lifted from his chest. Glancing at Taki, he noticed her joy at the sight and he couldn't help but that Kami-sama that he was given such a wonderful partner. If she hadn't been there and consoled Naruto, he had a feeling the boy would be in a much different mood now. Before the kids left for their day at the academy, Akio had pulled Naruto aside and, before he could even talk, Naruto just snorted.

"I know, tou-san. Don't let anyone find out anything. I'm not dumb, you know?"

And with that, Naruto left the compound with his brothers and couldn't help but smile to himself. No one would find out anything because the twins weren't going to tell, and neither was Naruto, so was he really breaking any rules? Not in his opinion. So with his new weapon on his back, he had to show Rōshi-sensei after all, he practically skipped down to the academy and didn't even care when Katsu Yamada glared at him all day.

"What do you mean?" Naruto looked at his sensei in confusion, the other jinchūriki sitting in front of him with the same calm look as ever.

"What I mean is that you're going to be receiving instruction from another container. Han is returning to the village within the next five or six months and, by that time, you will be ready for our combined training."

"There's another jinchūriki in Iwa?" Rōshi nodded at Naruto's question causing the boy's eyebrows to raise further, "So Iwa has three?"

"Yes." The red haired man sighed, "Though Han is a bit more...temperamental. He was not treated as kindly when he was made into the container of the Gobi. I was five some forty years ago when the Yonbi was sealed inside of me, and my mother was cousin to the Shodai Tsuchikage, who had passed away by this point. Han, on the other hand, had the Gobi sealed inside of him as a baby about fifty years ago and his family had no connection to the Tsuchikage, which made people weary and afraid he would defect. After that his parents didn't want to deal with raising a demon container and the stigma that came along with it, so he was given directly to the Tsuchikage at the time, who happened to be the Nidaime. The village scorned him, as it was not kept a secret at all like your status and mine until a became a genin."

"So he's bitter?" Naruto could almost understand that, "And you're afraid he won't like me because the village doesn't hate me?"

"Yes, sadly. Iwa has grown much since those times, Naruto." The red haired man looked almost sad, "They know now what a jinchūriki truly is. Seeing as I've been a fairly prominent figure in the village and my status is well known by now, people have come to trust that I won't randomly go and a rampage and start killing people. They have even accepted Han, despite him not being here often, and the only real reason we keep you a secret is to protect you until you can protect yourself."

Because Konoha would come for you. The words were unspoken but certainly hung in the air between them, and Naruto suppressed a shiver. He couldn't imagine losing tou-san, kaa-san, the twins, and Emiko. All his friends, he would never see them again if Konoha took him. Kurotsuchi, Ittan, and Deidara wouldn't be able to terrorize him anymore, which was honestly a point in Konoha's favor. Those three were insane when it came down to it, and he had no idea why they were put on the same team. Probably because if any of them had been paired wit another team and sensei, the poor nin would've probably gone insane.

"Okay then, I get it." Naruto sighed, "Also, wow. You guys are seriously old."

Rōshi narrowed his eyes, "Just get to your normal warm ups. We're beginning advanced calligraphy today, then we're gonna take a look at that double naginata you have there. I know a neat trick you can do with wind chakra and the blades, picked it up from Tomone Yamada the other day when I asked her about wind chakra. She gave me a couple scrolls, so I've got some new jutsu for you as well. Nice lady, she is."

"Yeah, her son is dick hole though." Snorting, Naruto began to run his laps though he was practically vibrating in joy. He finally got to learn some more wind jutsu, which was always his favorite because they came so easy to him. Advanced calligraphy would be a bitch, but he wanted to start Fūinjutsu soon so it was a necessary evil. As he sprinted around the field with his weights on, he couldn't help but wonder what Han would be like and what he'd learn from the man. Time would soon tell, but he had many months until then. For now, though, he had to get stronger so he could face the Kyūbi again without being called a whelp every two seconds.


End file.
